Huskies Earn Fulbright Awards for International Study, Teaching

Six Northeastern seniors and alumni — a record number — have earned Fulbright U.S. Student Awards to study or teach abroad, and an additional five Northeastern affiliates have been named alternates for these prestigious awards. Active in over 140 countries, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed research, study and teaching opportunities. The recipients meet, work, live with, and learn from people of the host country, in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding.

This year’s Northeastern Fulbrighters are:

Olivia Allen, SSH’14, international affairs major, social entrepreneurship and business administration minors
While a Northeastern student, Olivia helped disenfranchised populations at home and abroad—from teaching English to women in a Boston homeless shelter, to helping low-income residents in a South African slum start microbusinesses. These experiences deepened her commitment to teaching and social justice: “I realized that classrooms are a unique place where people initially may seek knowledge, but in return, find dignity,” she says. After graduating in 2014, she joined Teach for America as a fifth-grade teacher in North Carolina, where she helped many immigrant students gain fluency in English and other disciplines. Colleagues say Olivia is a model educator, developing novel methods to ensure that her students succeed. With this scholarship, she will teach English to students in Colombia.

Raevan Henderson SSH’18, human services and criminal justice majors
Growing up in New York City, attending schools where Lunar New Year, Hanukkah, Dia de los Muertos and All Saints Day were all routinely celebrated, gave Raevan a framework for understanding her own identity as well as a diverse vision of America that she aspires to share as a cultural ambassador. Co-ops at the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York enabled Raevan to observe court trials, where she noticed that many of the people prosecuted were young—under 20—people of color and from low-income backgrounds. Struck by this commonality and interested in ways in which individuals, families, and communities can intervene and equip children and young adults with the skills, resources, and support needed to succeed, Raevan developed an interest in education, something she will further explore as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Vietnam.

Rayyan Mikati AMD’18, visual design: applications to organismal biology major
Refuting the dictum that her two great passions, science and art, are separate domains and that she would have to choose between them, Rayyan devised her own interdisciplinary major at Northeastern. A co-op at the Lebanese Marine and Wildlife Museum introduced her to the work of restoring objects, a discipline she will engage in depth as she earns a master’s degree in the Conservation of Fine Art, specializing in works on paper, at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom. Mikati’s particular interest is in the preservation and restoration of non-architectural art from the Arab world and the greater Middle East, which is increasingly under threat from violence and instability. Mikati’s project will also use art as a tool to celebrate and preserve Arab culture among the Arab diaspora in the UK and to promote intercultural conversations in Newcastle, fostering deep engagement with her host community.

Daniel Russotto CIS’18, computer science major, minors in English and philosophy
Daniel considered a wide array of majors–economics, political science, English, and philosophy among them–when he entered Northeastern, uncertain of how best to approach the numerous intellectual and social challenges that competed for his attention. Ultimately, he chose to study computer science because, he says, it enables him “to engage with the world in limitless ways,” providing a toolkit for approaching diverse problems. For Daniel, this has meant not only working at Spotify and Intuit, but also developing solutions that allowed the Boston Public Health Commission  to collect survey data regarding drugs and alcohol, and setting up a catalog system for the East Meets West community library. With the Fulbright, Daniel will pursue the Master’s in Business Analytics and Big Data at Insituto de Empresa in Spain, where he will continue to explore how data processing, data science, and machine learning can facilitate new solutions to diverse problems.

Alexander Vanarthos, DMSB’17, business administration major
Since he was a child, Alex has been curious about the world—eager to soak up knowledge and share it. He has traveled in several countries—Nicaragua, Vietnam, Thailand, Poland, Ireland—and aided communities in his own backyard. He’s coached youth-sports programs, volunteered at a homeless shelter, and founded a program to pair tutors with struggling students in Boston public schools. His adaptability was on display last year, when—after preparing for months to teach in Colombia—his teaching appointment was abruptly changed to China a few weeks prior to departure. Arriving with no knowledge of the language, he embraced the challenge and successfully taught 50 students over four months, earning the respect of colleagues. With this scholarship, Alex will teach English in Colombia.

Amy Zhao, E’18, chemical engineering major, writing minor
Amy believes “language is agency.” Writing and storytelling have helped her connect with others and navigate the complexities of her multicultural identity as a Chinese-American. Last year, for example, she turned the stories of her family’s experience during China’s Cultural Revolution into a powerful podcast. While working as a sought-after tutor in Northeastern’s writing center, Amy has exhibited not only a deft understanding of the written word, but an innate ability to teach, using a caring, personalized approach to help students strengthen their writing. With the Fulbright, Amy will teach English to secondary students in Thailand. “I want to share my own American story and empower my students with the language skills to explore and articulate their own stories,” she says.

In addition, the following students were named Alternates for Fulbright awards.

Bridget Bunda Bouvé’18, health science and biology majors
Bridget proposed to undertake a project in Public Health while in Botswana, investigating the use of patient education materials in HIV clinics as way to improve early diagnosis of cancer.

Alicia Cook NUSL’18
Alicia proposed to examine the domestic influence within Kosovo of the Hague’s new tribunal by conducting a comparative analysis of national and foreign aid perspectives, as well as a quantitative measurement of the domestic rule of law.

Caitlin Ferguson AMD‘13, communication studies major; global social entrepreneurship and international affairs minors
Caitlin proposed to study the social and environmental impacts of solid waste management (SWM) in Kyrgyzstan, with the goals of both documenting the impacts of SWM and recommending a scalable model to sustainably manage waste for a climate-resilient future.

Anika Krause SSH’18, English major
Anika proposed to teach English in Spain.

Vera Lee SSH’18, international affairs major; Spanish minor
Vera proposed to teach English in Colombia.